Reclining chair with back rest, seat, and leg rest, movable



Aug. 28, 1956 A. LORENZ 2,750,554

RECLINING CHAIR WITH BACK REST, SEAT AND LEG REST, MOVABLE Filed Jan. 11, 1954 '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 6 64 656 3 3 46 INVENTOR.

Aug. 28, 1956 A. LORENZ 2,760,554

RECLINING CHAIR WITH BACK REST, SEAT AND LEG REST, MOVABLE Filed Jan. 11, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR FINTON LORENZ ATTORNEY United States Paten RECLINING CHAIR WITH BACK REST, SEAT, AND LEG REST, MOVABLE Anton Lorenz, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Application January 11, 1954, Serial No. 403,290

8 Claims. (Cl. 155-106) This is a continuation-in-part application of my patent application Serial No. 316,197,.filed on October 22, 1952, for An Article of Repose forSupporting the Body of a Person, and of my patent application Ser. No. 316,198 filed on October 22, 1952, for An Article of Repose for Supporting the Body of a Person, now abandoned.

My invention relates to articles of furniture, and more particularly to reclining chairs or the like articles of furniture, wherein a structure including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other is rockably mounted on a support.

An object of the present invention is to provide a convenient controlling mechanism for a leg-rest swingably mounted on the seat of a reclining article of furniture of above-described type, by means of which the legrest may be propelled forwardly and upwardly at a great initial speed, when the movable members of the article of furniture are swung from their sitting position into a reclined position.

A further object of the invention is to improve on the art of reclining articles of furniture as now customarily made.

Other objects and structural details will be apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a chair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of another embodiment of a chair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away, and

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of still another embodiment of a chair according to the invention, a portion of a side frame being broken away.

Referring now to Fig. 1, 510 generally indicates a frame comprising the side frames 512 and 514 connected with each other by a transverse rod 516.

A unit 518 comprising a back-rest 520 and a seat 522 rigid with each other is swingably mounted on the support 510 at 524. Said unit 518 has a downward extension 526 rigid with the former.

A leg-rest 528 is swingably mounted on the front portion of the seat 522 at 530.

The movements of the leg-rest 528 in dependence on the movements of the unit 518 are controlled by the following mechanism:

A first link 532 swingably mounted on the support 510 at 534 at a point spaced from the pivotal connection 524 between the unit 513 and the support 510 is pivoted to a second link 536 at 538. The rear end of said second link 536 is pivoted to the downward extension 526 of the unit 518 at 540. The first link 532, the second link 536 and the extension 526 constitute the movable links of a constrained linkage wherein the portion of the support 510 between the pivots 524 and 534 is included as the stationary link.

The first link 532 and the second link 536 have exten- 2,760,554 Patented Aug. 28, 1956 2v sions 542 and 544 projecting beyond their pivotalconnection 538.

One end of a controlling arm 546' is pivoted at 548to the extension 544 of the second link 536; the other end of said controlling arm 546 is' pivoted at 550m one end of a controlling link 552,. the other end of which is pivoted to the leg-rest 528 at 554.

The downward extension 542 of the first link 532 is in pivotal connection with one end of a controlling bar 556 at 558. The other end of said controllingba'r" 556' is pivoted to the controlling arm 546 at 560.

The extension 542 of the first link 532 and the controlling bar 556 are provided with a series of holes 562 and 564, respectively, for an adjustment of the prverar connection 558. v

The sitting position (shown in full lines) of the unit 518 is limited by a stop 566 of the support- 510' arranged for cooperation with the extension 526 of the unit. The extreme reclined position (shown in dot and dash lines) of the unit 518 is limited by a stop 568 arranged on the support 510 for cooperation with the back-rest.

When the unit 518 is swung from the sitting position into the extreme reclined position, the leg-rest 528 is propelled forwardly and upwardly info the position 528" by means of the controlling mechanism 556, 546, 552 described above.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 again a unit 618 comprising a back-rest 620 and' a seat 622 rigid with each other is swingably mounted on the support 6116 at 624.

The first link 632 swingably mounted on the support 610 at 634 is pivoted to the second link 636 at 638. The rear end of said second link 636 is pivoted to the downward extension 626 of the unit 618; the forward extension 644 of said second link is pivoted to the upper end of the controlling arm 646 at 648. The lower end of said controlling arm 646 is pivoted at 650 to one end of the controlling link 652, the other end of which is pivoted at 654 to the leg-rest 628' swingably mountedon the seat 622 at 630.

According to said embodiment of Fig. 2 the rear end of the controlling bar 656 is pivoted to the extension 626 of the unit 618 at 646. The other end of said controlling bar 656 is again pivoted to the controlling arm 646 at 660.

Stops 666 and 668 arranged on the support 610 for cooperation with the extension 626 and the back-rest 620 respectively limit the sitting and extreme reclined positions of the unit 618.

When the unit 618 is swung about its pivot 624 into the reclined position 618', the leg-rest 628 is propelled into the position 628' by the controlling mechanism 656, 646 652.

According to the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, a unit 718 comprising a back-rest 720 and a seat 722 rigid with each other is rockably mounted on the support 710 at 724.

The lower end of the first link 732 is swingably mounted on the support 710 at 734. Said first link 732 is pivoted at 738 to the second link 736 pivoted at 740 to the downward extension 726 of the unit 713. The forward extension 744 of said second link 736 is pivoted to the controlling arm 746 at 748. Said controlling arm 746 is pivoted at an intermediate point 760 to one end of the controlling bar 756, the other end of which is pivoted at 758 to the upper extension 742 of the first link 732. The lower end of said controlling arm 746 is pivoted at 750 to one end of a controlling link 752, the other end of which is pivoted at 754 to a leg-rest 728 swingably mounted on the seat 722 at 730.

The sitting and extreme reclined position are limited by stops 766 and 768 respectively.

When the unit 718 is swung about its pivot 724, the legrest 728 is propelled forwardly and upwardly through the linkage described above.

I have described preferred embodiments of my invention, but it is understood that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration and that various changes in shape and proportion, as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Each of the embodiments shown in the drawings may be equipped with locking means for holding the movable members of the chair in any desired position.

What I claim is:

1. An article of repose for supporting the body of a person, comprising in combination: a support, a unit including a seat and a back-rest rigid with each other, said unit being swingably mounted on said support, a downward extension included in the structure of said unit, a first link swingably mounted on said support at a point spaced from the pivotal connection between the support and said unit, a second link pivoted to said downward extension and to said first link for effecting movements of said first link about its pivot in dependence on movements of said unit, said first link, said second link and said downward extension forming the movable links of a constrained linkage including the portion of the support between the pivots of the unit and of the first link as a stationary link, a leg-rest swingably mounted on the front portion of said seat, a controlling arm pivoted to the structure of said second link at one of its end portions, a controlling bar pivoted at one of its end portions to one of the movable links of said linkage which is joined to said second link, said controlling bar being pivoted at its other end portion to said controlling arm, and means interposed between said controlling arm and said leg-rest for effecting movement of the latter in coordination with said controlling arm.

2. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, the structure of said second link including an extension projecting beyond its pivotal connection with said first link, and said controlling arm being pivoted to said extension of the second link.

3. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, said means interposed between said controlling arm and said leg-rest including a controlling link pivoted at one of its end portions to said controlling arm and at its other end portion to said leg-rest.

4. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, said controlling bar being pivoted to the structure of said first link.

5. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, the structure of said first link including an extension projecting beyond its pivotal connection with the second link, and said controlling bar being pivoted to said extension of the first link.

6. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, the structure of said first link including an extension projecting beyond its pivotal connection with the second link, said controlling bar being pivoted to said extension of the first link, and said means interposed between said controlling arm and said leg-rest including a controlling link pivoted at one of its end portions to said controlling arm and at its other end portion to said leg-rest.

7. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, said controlling bar being pivoted to said extension of the unit.

8. In an article of repose as claimed in claim 1, said controlling bar being pivoted to said extension of the unit, and said means interposed between said controlling arm and said leg-rest including a controlling link pivoted at one of its end portions to said controlling arm and at its other end portion to said leg-rest.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,688,576 Doyle Oct. 23, 1928 2,472,854 Lorenz June 14, 1949 2,579,502 Lorenz Dec. 25, 1951 2,672,919 Luckhardt Mar. 23, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 17,662 Great Britain Oct. 5, 1900 136,657 Austria Feb. 26, 1934 220,033 Germany Mar. 14, 1910 

